Friday, January 1, 2016

Day 37 Right Beginnings


"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth." Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  John 1:1

There are two books in the Bible that begin with "in the beginning". Genesis 1 begins with the history of God's creation.
John 1 begins with "In the beginning was the Word."  Both references affirm that God was there in the beginning, and that Jesus--the Word of God-- was there with Him. He never changes.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  The Holy Spirit was there with them, too, brooding over the primeval waters, planting Jesus in Mary's womb,  and witnessing to His eternal nature.  
Before God, nothing else was there.  Everything else we can name has both a beginning and an end. It is possible that before this creation there were other creations, but we would never know it if there were. All trace of what came before would have been eradicated in the moment of our universe's creation.  But if any existed before, it would not matter to us.  When God created our world, all things were made new.
When Christ came, as John reveals,  the world was made new again through the Eternal Word of God. We existed before encountering Christ, but that existence does not matter.  For us,  Jesus is the beginning of all things.  All the resentments, sins, and failures of our imprisoned and oppressed existence before the Cross are over in Him. Our world begins when the Word appears.  Jesus is the very act of creation. Through Him, all things were brought into existence.  Even if we have made a mess of things in the past, whenever we encounter Christ we have a new beginning. 
New Year's Day is a wonderful opportunity to begin again, but only if that beginning starts with Christ. The mistakes and failures of this last year do not matter--they are put to death on Christ's cross.  What matters is that  we are walking now with Jesus, whether we see or know Him today, and whether we will walk with Him in the future.
Two misconceptions tie us forever to the past--guilt and unforgiveness. Guilt ties us to the past by constantly bringing to mind our past mistakes--what that we no longer have, what we should have done that we did not do, or what we ought not to have done that we did.  It's foolish to dwell on any of these.  We do not live in yesterday--we can only live today.  When we hold on to resentment about what others have done to us, we get stuck in the past. Jesus tells us in the Lord's prayer.  "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors". If we cannot let go of other people's sins,  how can we believe it when we read that God has let go of ours?  
When we let go of the past we can begin again.
Today can be a new beginning.  Face this new year with a clean slate in Him. God has great things for you if only you will have the courage today to be free.

"Father, help me to know that I am forgiven, and help me to forgive others, so that I can be free to experience all the new adventures you have for me this year. In Jesus' name, Amen."